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we are in new york, you are live in the cnn newsroom, thank you so much for being here. right now, president trump left louisiana, wrapping up a trip to the gulf coast area devastated by tropical storm harvey, and lake charles where he was last, he and the first lady just met with some of the first responders in the civilian volunteers who went to texas, in fact, and helped rescue stranded flood victims. they spent the first part of the day in houston. this is video from that visit where they stopped first at a local church helping load emergency supplies for those in need, and then at rng stadium, he met with evacuations and served lunch. this trip comes four days after the first visit to the storm zone. he landed first in corpus

christi thursday, accused of being detached in the trip, but that certainly has not been the case today. we've seen him hug and kiss children, pause for selfies. he shook hands with people in the affected neighborhoods, and good news from beaumont, texas today, a city with three days without water, the new pumps are installed, and they are in the progress of restoring water service. let's begin with the president's hour. our ryan noble is in lake charles, louisiana. tell us about the president's meetings on the ground there. >> reporter: yeah. i will. in fact, i got someone who was actually in the room with the president a few minutes ago. ben husser, a part of the cajun navy, not describing himself as such, but he's a hero for the work he's dope. you actually got a chance to meet and visit with the president of the united states just a few minutes ago. tell me about the meeting.

>> honor to meet him, glad to know he cares enough to come down here, spend time with the people in the area that were devastated and affected by the storm. means a lot. >> reporter: resinate with everyone who have been through so much? >> it does. whenever you get the attention of the president of the united states, the attention of the american people, you feel as though they care, and that's what's important. >> reporter: ben, you're from louisiana, you went through hurricane katrina. you told me before that after everything you've gone through with that hurricane, that's why you decided to get on board with the cajun navy and help people in texas so they didn't go through what happened in new orleans and louisiana. explain that to me. >> you know, any time there's a disaster, anything going on, american people get together and help each other. that's what we are supposed to do, help our neighbor. you know, katrina was a devastating event. me, personally, i didn't want to see some of the things that happened during that time happen again. we loaded up boats, trucks, no question about it, don't think

about it, just do it. that's what america is great about. we help our neighbor. we help each other when down. >> reporter: in east texas, there was a nursing home where they had yet to evacuate the residents there. what happened? >> we made entry into the nursing home, roughly 65 patients in the first nursing home. we were told we couldn't take them out, and we didn't give it a chance. we didn't give them an option. we took ownership of the nursing home, restrained the director, and we took the patients out. roughly 70 boats, got those people out, got them to safety. stha had been in water for two days, feet in the water for two days, diabetic patients. what i saw was devastating to me as a person and human being. that can't happen. then we found another nursing home own by the same company, same thing again, 75 patients in it. >> reporter: thank you for the effort, glad you met the president today. stay safe, and thank you for talking to us. >> reporter: that's a small example.

hundreds, really thousands of stories that are emerging here from the region that was hit so hard by hurricane harvey, and ben got the opportunity to get a bit of thanks from the president of the united states himself, and that's the stories that we're hearing here in louisiana and in texas. >> oh, ryan, thank you. huge, humge thanks to ben, whata great guy he is, over efforts appreciated by so many. these are live images we are looking at in louisiana. the president has not yet boarded air force one. he left the armory some time ago where he did the meetings with people there, like ben on the ground, but here he is ready to be weal wheeled up any moment now, and just making a few last handshakes and taking a few last pictures before he gets back on the airplane ending his trip to the storm zone as he waves good-bye, again, first lady along his side throughout the day and other members of the staff, including john kelly, who

was there with him. we are also told ben car sson, e hud secretary, as well as the secretary of education, betsy devos was with the president on the trip. again, the president meeting with a few of the officials, both the governor in the state as well as the states' senators who greeted the president and welcomed him into louisiana. let's keep a picture up on the screen, if we can, guys, as we bring in our panel to talk more about the president's visit today. cnn political commentator alice stewart with us, a republican strategist and former communications director for senator cruz, and here with us, cnn senior media reporter, oliver darcy, and keith, a democratic strategist, and former white house aide under president bill clinton. so, keith, as the president gets ready to head back to the white house, what's your assessment? how did the president do today? >> well, i think he did a much

better job today than he did during his first trip. he didn't meet with hurricane survivors. he spoke about himself. he said what a crowd, what a turnout, and he just didn't show that he had any great deal of humility or empathy making it too much about himself. this was a gimme. this is something any president ordinarily would do. you go, you reach out to people. this is the worst natural disaster since hurricane katrina. i was more surprised that the president did not get it right the first time, so to say that he got it better this time is sort of -- it's, like, self-bigotry of low expectations as george w. bush once referred to. >> keith, there was criticism on both sides of the aisle for him not showing empathy or compassion on the first visit, perhaps, but we've heard from one of the reporters earlier that he's also been criticized today for coming too soon and affecting and disrupting emergency response and relief efforts on the ground.

is it a dammed if you do, dammed if you don't situation? >> it is, unfortunately, that's the role of the president. president obama, president clinton, president bush went through the same things. you can't figure out the perfect time to visit a disaster. i think what this underscores more than anything is the need for an effective and strong government. you know, the president has just been in office trying to erase president obama's legacy including hurricane programs that now the administration's trying to reconsider, flood programs and hurricane programs and slashing government programs that are actually helping people in need. if anything, i hope that people will see this disaster and see the federal response to the disaster as an urgent call for more funding for the government necessities that help people in the future, and not as an excuse to justify more tax cuts for the wealthy and more unnecessary government cuts to programs that are desperately important. >> talk about the funding because the president requested

an initial $7.9 billion for recovery efforts, supposed to the the initial round of funding, emergency response to get the ball rolling. we heard him in remarks today meeting with storm victims, saying he hopes it's done quickly. oliver darcy, he's obviously in a hurry to get this out because he doesn't want to make the same mistakes president bush made after hurricane katrina. >> that's key here. he does not want to look like bush did after katrina, look responsive, he was on the ground today and tuesday, not the way in people wanted him to be, but nonetheless went down to texas and there tuesday, and he wants to get this funding through congress quickly as possible without problems because he wants to take care of this and make sure he looks responsive. where bush was criticized widely for not doing too much, he wants to look on top of it, and he's on the ball. >> so, alice, your former boss,

ted cruz, senator from texas, calls for the federal aide in response to harvey, again, he's a vocal critic in the past of some of these types of spending bills. remember, in 2013, he voted against the federal aide after sandy, and now even republicans are calling him out on this saying he's been a hypocrite. how do you square it? >> well, first off, ted cruz did support aide for sandy victims. he did not support the boondoggle of funding for other projects for members of congress such as fisheries in alaska and new roofs on the smithsonian in washington, d.c. that needs to be cleared up, first and foremost, and, sure, he does want aide to texas. he wants it soon. he wants it as much as he can possibly get to help the state rebill. the president has committed to doing so. i have to say this, if i can, about today's visit. seems like there's been criticism. look, today, president trump checked the box and showed without a doubt he's a consoler

in chief. he went there with great compassion and warmth, and as you've shown, thanking the volunteers, reassuring the storm survivors, taking pictures with people, serving up food, loading up vehicles with necessary supplies, and this was exactly what they needed, as for his trip earlier this week, that was important too. i have a relative who was at the event he was at in austin where it was more about president initially going there to assess what needed to be done. what kind of roiesources did th need. that was not the time and place for him to go and get involved with the rescue efforts that were underway at the time, so i think that going in there and initially assessing the damage and what resources were needed followed up with today, and i think he -- it's been a very presidential week for him without a doubt. >> alice, oliver, keith, leaving it there for now. thank you, all. beaumont, texas three days without running water, but

that's about to change. the city announced news residents have been waiting to hear. let's get out to beaumont, we are outside the water treatment facility. katie, what have you learned? >> reporter: the water and rivers are too high for a full assessment of the damage to the two intake facilities here at this treatment plant, but the good news, we are just learning of six pumps have been installed. six pumps from a private company, tiger industries, are now pumping water into this facility to be treated and then sent out to the city of beaumont. there's changes in pressure. there will be interruptions to service when you get the water. boil it. it's one step in a temporary fix to a problem that's been so big to so many. i want to bring in colonel paul owen, southwest division commander for the u.s. army corp. of engineer, landed on the ground from galveston. they have six pumps here, those yet not installed.

what do you know about where we are in the process? >> the pumps are waiting to be moved to a site that's currently not accessible because the water's too high at this point. it's incredible what the local city and engineers here have done to figure out a solution where our pumps are used as backup basis, so it's -- i mean, again, with local communities and local industry contributing to making this a rapid solution from a local level, i think this is a great example of a community coming together to solve a problem. >> as you say, so many entities coming together, everyone's working around the clock. what have you heard of the challenges of this particular case? >> so, for our, you know, our pumps, we originally got assigned a mission assignment from fema at the request of the state a couple days ago, so we worked very hard to fine the right pumps, get them to this location, and then the time that ha happened, i think, you know, the ingenuity of the local engineers had the solution to pump the water to and through and filter it in a way do deliver good drinki ining water the area.

it was a different process than what they are usually used to, and i think our pumps, once the water is down, potentially works as a backup for the original process. >> reporter: when you go inside here, talking to the people here the past couple days, what questions are you going to be asking? >> first thing, congratulate them. they did a great job restoring an social service for their people, so i'm going to ask them, you know, just some questions about how they came up with this idea. frankly, i'm curious as an engineer how they did this. seems to be going to work good for them. >> well, thank you so much. we'll let you get in there for the briefing. >> all right, thank you. >> reporter: good news for the residents as the water will be more of a flow than a trickle. >> that is huge, huge. katie, thank you for that reporting. coming up, breaking news we're following, the justice department has announced they have found no evidence to backup president trump's claims that trump tower was wiretapped by president obama. details on this next live in the cnn newsroom.

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major news from washington, the justice department found zero evidence that former president obama ever wiretapped

trump tower as president trump once claimed. in the filing released, the doj writes both fbi and nfd confirm no record related to wiretaps as stated in the tweets. by the way, that nfd, initial security division of the justice department, but remember the tweets back in march? these were some of the accusatio accusations, writing, terrible, just found out that obama had my wires tapped in trump tower just before the victory. nothing found. this is mccarthyism. then this, this is nixon/watergate, bad or sick guy. the white house has never said what president trump was basing those unfunded claims on, only that the president was confident an investigation could vindicate him. i want to bring in senior political analyst, who served as the president's avisor to four u.s. presidents, democrat and republican. david, help us understand how

significant this is. >> well, we've known already from comey's testimony and other sources that the fbi has found no evidence of this, but i think coming from the justice department and a written filing and a lawsuit, it really puts an exclamation point at the end of the sentence that the president essentially misled the country. he had no basis for saying as far as we know there were any wiretapping, and, certainly, his own government has determined that there's no basis for it, and, you know, one has to say, would the president be better off saying i was wrong and i apologize to president obama and move on than allowing to this expand as a direct contradiction of a series of maligning tweets. >> right. >> caller: that the president issued back in march.

>> you'll recall, it was not just the tweets. he kept doubling down in other statement, and eventually, involved foreign allies at one point. the trump agency claimed an agency spied, and later, there was the press conference with the german chancellor where president trump said this. >> as far as wiretapping, i guess, by, you know, this past administration, at least we have something in common, perhaps. [ laughter ] >> there was laughter, but the german chancellor hardly cracked a smile. she didn't find that funny. do you think this, again, coming back out was put to bed, but now it's been reopened. does that impact the u.s. relationship with allies? >> caller: what relationship with the allies? >> do you see this as having an impact on the u.s. relationship

with our allies such as, you know -- >> caller: not particularly. you know, i do think that president trump making light of this does not help the relationship with chancellor merkel, you know. they have not exactly been buddies here, and there's a lot of distance between them, but i think it underscores, again, that president trump unfortunately, sadly, has on more than one occasion simply slimed obama and gone out of his way gratuitously to slime him, and without foundation, without a basis for saying what he's saying. i think that's one of the reasons that is, you know, that so many americans don't approve of him right now. that the numbers are extraordinarily low in the approval ratings because they've seen this, and it's behavior they can't support, so i, you

know -- will all of this change? i don't know. what i know now is that we have as serious and major a statement as you could have from the president's own administration, that directly contradicts what he was claiming in a series of tweets that were very tough on president obama, that slimed him in a very personal way, very -- we do not see this in american politics often. we do not see one president going after a former president with a kind of venom seen in those tweets, and when it turns out they were just false, it is extremely disturbing to see that pattern. >> so just to give a little bit more background to the viewers, we got this filing by the justice department because it came as part of a lawsuit by a group that is called american oversight. they had done a freedom of information request to look into

this and have documents provided, seeking government records of any kind of wiretap of trump tower, but the fact that the president, the united states department of justice came out in such a direct way contradicting what the president, himself, has said and has never, you know, gone back on, do you think he's been, you know, he's not hidden any of his, i guess, disapproval of some of the moves jeff sessions, his attorney general has made. do you think this is likely to reopen a wound the president has in that regard? >> caller: that's a very good question. it was my first question that rose in my mine, was, is the president going to be angry with sessions, that he -- that he should have stopped this, or changed the tone of the filing, you know, to -- yeah, the justice department could have said, we have no evidence to date. you know, we have not yet found

evidence, but instead, this is a slighter statement, we simply have no evidence, and, you know, the president may take bridge in a private or public way with the attorney general. i doubt the attorney general was too thrilled with this problem either, but there it is. when you get a lawsuit like this, your justice department is compelled to answer honestly. that's what the department peoples it's done. there are people, some people justice department out to get us, and that's why they did this filing in such a flat way, but, you know, the department, you know, frankly, has a long record of people who work there, you know, being part darn partisan. >> all right, david gergen, we always appreciate the insight. >> caller: good to talk to you again. coming up, a follow up to a family rescue going viral because of this video. it's the plight of penny the pig

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more now on the ongoing impacts of harvey. the beginning of the school year pushed back in areas affected by harvey, in houston alone, 30,000 students are temporarily moved to new schools. the houston independent school district superintendent gave an assessment. >> we have about 300 schools in our portfolio of schools. we've completed assessments of about 250 of the campuses. the rest we're trying to get into, and in some cases, we

can't go to because of the water, so once we have the full scope of the condition of all of our schools, we'll be able to decide what we're going to do in terms of housing or co-locating students in other buildings. this is a massive undertaking as i'm sure you're aware of, and the last thing we want to do is put students or staff in facilities that are not safe and conducive to teaching and learning. >> the district says 115 schools have to be deep cleaned, but they will be ready for school to start on september 11th. 53 others have major damage, and 22 have extensive damage. at least one houston elementary school may not open for months. now, one family's rescue from harvey's rising flood water went viral when the mom posted video of her four kids, three-legged dog, and this beloved family pet pig who was saved by first responders. today, the family returned to their home in texas after water

rose some 13 feet into their home, even though it was still built on stilts. we are joined now, sarah, i bet that was a little scary for those family members to go back to their house. what did they find? >> reporter: you know, this is an incredible family. we have been with them for much of the day, and they have been -- they made our hearts full, i have to tell you. they came home to find a big mess, ripping out the guts of the bottom two floors of their home. this is where they will. there's the water there, right, so they got the animals back here, the kids play here, there's -- brand new house, but the water, they never thought that the water could make it all the way up here, 13 feet up, and into their home that they just purchased three months ago. the family children are safe and

happy at grandma's house. >> we have four kids, two adopted from bulgaria, both with down syndrome. >> the children keep asking about going home, ever since the day firefighters rescued them from fast rising flood waters. >> coming to rescue us, buddy. >> reporter: it was not just four kids and two adults. >> you don't like the lake being over here? >> no. >> reporter: there was the three-legged dog. >> she's never swam before, she's missing a leg, so i don't know. >> and their chubby pig. >> good girl, penny. >> said, all right, this is going to be an adventure, have the happy face on for the kids. >> reporter: it worked. then they all came home to see what harvey left behind. >> pretty overwhelming. i -- it's really hard to describe, right? we're trying to keep happy faces, trying to maintain good attitudes for the kids, and walking in for the first time, i

mean, it was the most horrific smell, most -- just all furniture shifted, everything just displaced. >> i kind of couldn't catch my breath, and that's when it got real for me. walking into the house, it was definitely hard. we didn't have any time to gather things as we got out. we had to get out, like, so quickly. >> my toys, they all floated away. >> reporter: the children are home schooled so they lost their school supplies too. >> they are learning their biggest lessons right here doing what they are doing right now. >> reporter: ace and siblings powered through the loss and got to work alongside their parents, even the youngest. how much work have you done? >> working. with a hammer, broom. >> reporter: all day you're cleaning up. >> anything. >> reporter: we're proud of you, ar archie, you're doing a great job. this is the backyard, yes, there's water there, but they

had no idea that water could make it into their house because they built it 13 feet up in the sky. the family just moved to this home three months ago, and now? they are forced to tear it up so they can rebuild it. their dog, pip, and pig, penny, are just fine. as for the firefighters who saved them? >> we don't typically prepare for pig rescues, but we are, we are ready for anything, and the fact that not only is it important to keep the kids calm and safe, the animals help you, and mom attitude throughout the process helped us, but we were there to help them, get to a little drier spot. >> reporter: now, the two firefighters who rescued them are working right beside them. >> the firefighters came back to the house that saved you? >> yes. oh, my gosh, the moment i saw them pull up, the firefighters pulled up in the fire truck, the first day, we were back here, and i mean, i, like, i ran out of the house and just, like, jumped on them, because i just

couldn't believe that not only did they save our lives, save our family, get us out of here, but they came back, and not just to say hi, but to work, the firefighters are just forever heros. >> reporter: now, we are still inside the family and the family and friends from all over the place have shown up. some people they don't even know showed up. they saw their story on social media, and they showed up and just started working, and a ton of work has been done. the kids, including ace here, lost all toys in the flood, she's working really, really hard, and she got a huge surprise. jake paul from team 10 showed up here, a social media star, a youtube star, he showed up to help clean up and say hi to ace, and she was over the moon, and everybody smiling today, it's incredible the amount of work done with smiles on the faces after all they've gone through. we have much more on the coverage of the houston floods here, and what happened after

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breaking news, the regime has, quote, succeeded in making a more developed nuke. the agency claims in the visit to the country's nuclear weapons institute, kim jung un watched a hydrogen bomb loaded on to an interballistic missile. this was the picture provided by state news. let's bring in our lieutenant colonel, take all of this as a grain of salt to some degree, colonel, because it is the state run news agency providing this. this is some propaganda from the

regi regime, but how significant do you think this is? >> well, if it's true, this is a major step forward. we've been watching this for some time now. we know they developed an intercontinental ballistic missile because we can see that. what we cannot see is actually the development of a warhead. if they have been able to miniaturize a nuclear weapon down to the size that they can put it on the top of an icbm, they got a real capability to strike the united states. >> what do you see in this picture? >> well, you know, it's hard to determine exactly what that is. that's a pretty good sized weapon, but that's small enough to put into an icbm warhead. now, we don't know that this is actually real. we also don't know how survivalble this would be once launched. there's going to be a series more tests before this is really viability, but this is -- if that is a hiydrogen bomb and fis

in a capsule that fits on that, that's a giant leap forward in their technology. >> what would you expect the u.s. to do with this information with this development? you say it would be significant if it is proven true. gone, we don't know the authenticity of this, exactly, but is this something in which the u.s. needs to act upon? >> well, first of all, we got to find out if it is, in fact, true, and it, of course; the intelligence community will be looking at this, this picture, and everything associated. i'm sure this will drive a lot more intelligence collection, but, you know, we have to, you know, start looking at this to make sure that if he has developed this, that we're aware of it. then the problem becomes, well, what do you do about it? that opens up a whole other series of questions that we've been talking about the last few weeks. >> this, of course, is less than a week after north korea's last missile launch where they fired a ballistic missile going over

japan. that happened on tuesday, and as the week proceeded, there's been sort of a back and forth. the u.s. and south korea conducted a joint flyover drill simulating the bomb drills that have happened. there was successful intercept of medium range ballistic missile that the u.s. conducted. do you think north korea is trying to send a a message by sending out this picture through state media? >> i think he is. i believe this is just the tit for tat, back and forth between the united states and north korea. we do something. they do something in return. them we do something. it just gets ratchets up the temperature, and, of course, we don't need this. what we need is to figure out some way to deal with this situation rather than just threatening them. >> all right. colonel rick, we'll continue to gather more information on exactly what this is. again, the reporting tonight is that kim jung un visited a nuke

lab, this is according to state media in north korea. this image attached in their broadcast, watching an h-bomb to be loaded on to new icbm. they said the h-bomb, explosive power adjustable from ten kiloton to 100 kiloton is functional, a great nuke with great power detonated at high altitudes for super powerful emp, electromagnetic pulse attack, according to strategic goals. that's the latest from north korea. nay are vetting this new picture and new reporting. i want to bring in the pentagon correspondent, barbara star, joining us on the phone. barbara, there's been several tests this year, ballistic missil missiles, and in january, in fac fact, of 2016, there was

components of a hydrogen bomb. talk to me about that. >> well, this is a test that puzzles intelligence, and they may never have come to a a final conclusion, but what they did determine it it was most likely back in january 2016, the north korean regime tested components associated with a hydrogen bomb. that nuclear test was very deep underground, much deeper than previous tests. it's what would have been needed for a hydrogen bomb. what they did is conducted some air samplings after the test. it was not conclusive, but how the test was conducted, the data they got, they can go back and look at it. at the time the north koreaens claimed it was a hydrogen bomb. the u.s. believed since then it was components. the north koreans thought they tested a full hydrogen bomb, but, again, only believing it

was components, possibly just a detonator that explode in that test, but the critical thing here is it really put the mark on the wall that north korea was going after hydrogen bomb technology. it's going to be so important that the intelligence community looks at this image on the screen that you see of un with his scientists and other officials at this supposed hydrogen bomb device. it's going to be to look at it in trying to determine is it real. is this an actual working device to go back and look at any imagery, any electronic data from various plants and facilities, any air samplings, anything they could get that would add to the overall picture of what north korea has. right now, you know, the intelligence community's been watching their underground

nuclear test sites literally around the clock for months looking for any possibility that a six nuclear test might happen. officials have been saying they could do a test at any point. you know, it's underground. the u.s. won't know until it happens, but if images are real, if this is an actual constructed hydrogen bomb we are seeing on the screen, it would suggest they've been able to achieve something that the u.s. certainly has not publicly acknowledged at this point, so it's going to be an intelligence puzzle looking at all the clues, trying to look at the image, trying to see exactly what's real here. >> it was in recent weeks that i believe we learned that the development of their nuclear program was further along than had initially been predicted in terms of the rate of their ability to achieve some kind of a nuclear bomb and the ability to then put that on -- put it on a warhead that would go on an

intercontin intercontinental ballistic missile, going from years to months to achieve that in their developmental program. do you think this counts as a surprise to the u.s. officials? >> well, you know, i'm not sure that we know the answer to that. what we may be seeing unveiled here for all we know in the public and the media is something that the intelligence community has been keeping secret. we just -- we just don't know, but you're right, when you look at the pieces that have been emerging in the program, they have accelerated. that's been confirm. the north koreans have accelerated their missile development program. they have accelerated and it's widely accepted now that they probably have miniaturized

warhead technology. in other words, are closer than ever before to put a miniaturized nuclear warhead on the front end of the intercontinental ballistic missiles. sources cnn talks to regularly say still to be achieved is the challenge for them of being able to launch a missile, bring it back down into the atmosphere, and reach a precise target that they are aiming at. you know, that's looking at the north korean program, perhaps, through western eyes. it's not even clear that kim jung un cares about precision and the targeting. he for them. >> he wants to have a nuclear program that he can show the world, and insist that he will be and will remain a nuclear power that everyone has to respect. he doesn't test all these things, these warheads, these missiles, these images of a

hydrogen bomb, he doesn't test any of this the way the united states military would, years of development, complex test program. he is firing off missiles as fast -- by all accounts, as fast as he can. he is getting a fairly good success rate. is it perfect? no. but that may not be what he's looking for. he's looking for leverage and the his image on the world stage. and certainly he has achieved one goal and that's the united states, the president, the united states government is paying allot lot of attention him. >> i want to bring back colonel frank rincona who's on the line with me here. the other thing that came out this week, colonel, is north korea has continued to up its rhetoric against the u.s. essentially saying recognize us as a nuclear power, there is no

way out, there is no other option. our will ripley saying, you know, in other comments that were made earlier this week that north korea was saying if the u.s. doesn't simply recognize that they are a nuclear power, that they would continue to quickly advance their nuclear program. it puts the international community between a rock and a hard spot because, as we've seen, there have been an increase in sanctions over and over and over again and, yet, we see these images. >> yeah. and, you know, i think all of us have -- are of the belief that no matter whatkind kind of sanctions we put on north korea, no matter what the international community does to north korea, ub less the chinese are actually willing to make it hurt in north korea, nothing's going to change. this leadership in north korea wants to develop an icbm with a

nuclear warhead and it appears they're getting close to doing just that. what they want is a strategic deterrent. the north koreans believe if they have a nuclear weapon that they can deliver to the united states that they will have an effective deterrent against the united states. if you look at it from their position, they believe that the united states actually had designs on attacking north korea. you know, we have a bad habit of always trying to analyze what they're doing to our guys not looking at it from their position spot they're going to continue do this. and i don't think any type of economic pressure that's being applied right now is going to change i am jong un's mind. they're on a crash program. this is reminiscent of the effort that we put into the manhattan project. he's using untold resources to do this. and he's doing this as fast as can he. and as barbara said, they're not doing all the studies that the

united states would do to develop this, this is not long term. this is a crash program to get a capability that the rest of the world is going to have to take into consideration and they believe this will provide that deterrent against any military action against north korea. >> let's bring in global affairs analyst kimberly dozer. this is one of the first serious tests of this white house especially when it comes to the sanctions and the relationship with china. >> absolutely. and it comes after a number of u.s. officials, including pentagon chief jim mattis has been trying to emphasize the diplomatic options. it's an on-purpose, in-your-face provocation that could put this white house in the frame of mind that it has to do some sort of controlled strike on capability. now that's something that they have discussed, but with some

limited strike leading to a wider conflict is why it's always been argued as it's the last -- the last possible step they'd want to take. but the policy up to now of increasing sanctions, which they have been able to do at the u.n., increasing the economic pressure on north korea's elite doesn't seem to have been a lever that works. so either that means they can withstand more economic pain, or that perhaps china, beijing does not have the influence with north korea that the white house thinks that they do and as colonel francona was saying, this regime sees obtaining a hydrogen bm of some sort that can threaten the united states as the way that it guarantees staying in power. >> all right. kim droezer and colonel rick

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deterr doz you're live in the cnn "newsroom," i'm ana cabrera in new york. and we begin with breaking news out of north korea, the north korean regime claiming tonight it has a hydrogen bomb it can mount on an intercontinental ballistic missile. the country state-run media say these pictures show leader kim jong-un inspecting this new weapon at the weapons nuclear